My High School Life [Rewritten - Ongoing]

23. [Thomas]

My eyelids flickered open to an unlit room. Even with the surrounding darkness, I couldn't help but form the big smile on my face, feeling more happier than I had in a very, long time. Being around Izzy made me want to smile. Before, being happy, was a relative term. A foreign one at that. But being with her, I didn't have to fake it. It came so natural to me. Just seeing her cautious grin exploding into a radiant smile, made me want to do the same. It made me want to go back to the way things were, before that happened—when everything came crashing down.

Fuck. I shut my eyes. Not again.

I forced my thoughts back on Izzy, locking that part of my memories away. Immediately, a weight was lifted off my shoulders, and the smile was back on my face.

Running my hands through my unkempt hair, I stood up. The moment my feet touched the ground, my body shivered. Even with a rug underneath my feet, the ground was lumpy and cold.

With a long exhale, I grabbed the first set of clothes I saw from the pile of clean clothes I kept off to the side. Heading towards the bathroom, I quickly got ready, and made sure I was presentable.

Opening up the bathroom door, I walked across the hall towards Megan's room. When I glanced inside, she was still sound asleep with the top of her head poking out. I let out an exasperated sigh, as I saw the time on the clock above her bed. She was going to be late if she didn't wake up soon; I knew how much she hated being late to well . . . anything. Ever since I could remember, she was always that one kid that liked to show up an hour early to every event she attended. Even playdates that didn't have a scheduled time meeting.

"Come on, Meg." I lightly tapped her shoulder. "It's time to wake up."

"In a minute," I heard her grumble under the covers.

"Megan, if you don't wake up now, you're going to ruin your "no-tardy-and-an-hour-early-to-school" streak," I warned her.

When she heard that, she bolted right up, almost whacking me upside the head. Kicking her covers aside, she sat on the edge of her bed. She stretched her arms above her head, and let out a loud yawn.

"Is there still time for breakfast?" she asked, while she looked up at me with those wide, innocent eyes of hers.

I put on a smile. "If you hurry."

"Yay! Give me five minute."

In a split second, she hopped off her bed, and ran past me. When the bathroom door shut, I made my way over to the kitchen. Once I'd gathered the ingredients needed for Megan's breakfast, I preheated the pan, and poured some of the vegetable oil in. When I saw the surface glistening, I added the batter, and waited for it to turn a golden yellow.

Making a total of four pancakes, I piled the stack of pancakes onto the kitchen table. Just as I was grabbing the bottle of orange juice, Megan appeared with her uniform on.

I smiled at her, thankful my parents left us an emergency fund for Megan's tuition. If it wasn't for that, there was no way in hell I would've been able to afford her tuition with the two jobs I currently have.

Sometimes, I just wish I could shower her with anything she wanted. I hated seeing her face whenever I'd to tell her we couldn't afford it.

"How do I look?" she asked, doing a quick twirl.

"Cute as always."

"Thanks, Tommy." She gave me a big grin. "Did you make me pancakes?"

"Of course." I nodded to the stack of pancakes in the middle of the table. Her eyes grew wide as she took a good whiff. She made her way to her seat and took two pancakes for herself. I watched quietly as she poured the maple syrup onto her plate, practically drowning her breakfast with the substance.